FRY

This article appears in Volume V11, Page 270 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: FRA-GAE

FRY , the name of a well-known English Quaker family, originally living in Wiltshire. About the middle of the 18th century JOSEPH FRY (17281787), a

doctor

DOCTOR (Lat. for " teacher ")

, settled in Bristol, where he acquired a large practice, but eventually abandoned medicine for commerce. He became interested in china-making, soap-boiling and type-founding businesses in Bristol, and in a chemical works at Battersea, all of which ventures proved very profitable. The type-founding business was subsequently re-moved to London and conducted by his son Edmund. Joseph Fry, however, is best remembered as the founder of the

great

GREAT

Bristol firm of J. S. Fry & Sons,

chocolate

CHOCOLATE

manufacturers. He purchased the

chocolate

CHOCOLATE

-making patent of William Church-man and on it laid the foundations of the present large business. After his death the Bristol chocolate factory was carried on with increasing success by his widow and by his son, JOSEPH STORRS FRY (17671835).
In 1795 a new and larger factory was built in Union Street, Bristol, which still forms the centre of the firm's premises, and in 1798 a

Watt

WATT, JAMES (1736-1819)

's steam-

engine

ENGINE
ENGINE (Lat. ingenium)

was purchased and the cocoa-beans ground by steam. On the death of Joseph Storrs Fry his three sons, Joseph (17951879), Francis, and Richard (18071878) became partners in the firm, the

control

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

being mainly in the hands of FRANCIS FRY (18031886). Francis Fry was in every way a remarkable character. The development of the business to its modern enormous proportion was chiefly his

work

WORK

, but this did not exhaust his activities. He took a principal part in the introduction of railways to the west of England, and in 1852 drew up a

scheme

SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)

for a general English railway parcel service. He was an ardent bibliographer, taking a

special

SPECIAL

interest

INTEREST

in early English Bibles, of which he made in the course of a long life a large and striking collection, and of the most celebrated of which he published facsimiles with bibliographical notes. Francis Fry died in 1886, and his son Francis J. Fry and nephew Joseph Storrs Fry carried on the business, which in 1896 was for family reasons converted into a private limited company, Joseph Storrs Fry being chairman and all the directors members of the Fry family.

End of Article: FRY

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/FRA_GAE/FRY.html">
FRY
</a>

(Previous)
FRUYTIERS, PHILIP (16271666)

(Next)
FRY, ELIZABETH (178o-1845)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email